Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.net.URL.openConnection()" because "<local8>" is null

[Gipsy-The-Sheller]

Dear @alexeid

Today I need to use BEAST v2.7.7 to do some tasks but failed to open its interface. All exes, including BEAST.exe, BEAUTi.exe, LogCombiner.exe, TreeAnnotator.exe, except Densitree.exe, showed no response. Initially I thought that Java is to blame so I removed the attached java of my BEAST, and then uninstalled and reinstalled my JDK but all operations were painful. Then I tried to launch BEAST through the bat files but only got the same error message below :

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.net.URL.openConnection()" because "<local8>" is null
        at beast.pkgmgmt.PackageManager.installPackages(Unknown Source)
        at beast.pkgmgmt.PackageManager.processInstallList(Unknown Source)
        at beast.pkgmgmt.PackageManager.initialise(Unknown Source)
        at beast.pkgmgmt.launcher.BeastLauncher.getPath(Unknown Source)
        at beast.pkgmgmt.launcher.BeastLauncher.main(Unknown Source)

I need to solve this issue as quick as possible, as BEAST2 means a lot to my current work.

Sincerely,
Zhi-Jie Xu

[rbouckaert]

Hi Zhi-Jie Xu,

Java is included in the BEAST v2.7.7 distribution, because it requires some configuration and does not work well with other JDKs (unless properly configured). Therefore, it is not recommended to remove the Java version that is included with the distribution.

The error message from the package manager you posted suggests there is a some issue with accessing the package repository, which is hosted on GitHub. Perhaps there is some firewall setting on your computer preventing access?

Can you start BEAUti from the .exe file instead of the .bat file?

Remco